No. 20 Mustangs Finish Opening Weekend with Two More Wins

Saturday, February 24

Lake Charles, LA

7 A.M.

Texas A&M - Corpus Christi

Photo by: Kyle Calzia

No. 20 Mustangs Finish Opening Weekend with Two More Wins

2/24/2024 3:38:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

LAKE CHARLES, La. — It was another near perfect day for Cal Poly beach volleyball as the No. 20 Mustangs went 2-0 again Saturday to finish off the first weekend of the beach volleyball season 4-0. Saturday, Cal Poly took down Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-1 before wrapping up the day with a 5-0 sweep of host school McNeese State. "Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is ranked two spots behind us so we knew coming in that we needed to perform at all flights, and we did," head coach Todd Rogers said after the matches. "Against McNeese State we took care of business and had a couple outstanding performances. It's great to start the year off with four wins and we look forward to testing where we are as a team at the Battle of LA against four of the top teams in the country next week." Texas A&M Corpus Christi recap: Against the Islanders, an NCAA Tournament team in 2023, Rogers used the same pairings at the 1-4 spots as the Nicholls State match on Friday. The one new pair saw Lindsey Sparks, a grad transfer from UCLA who was a national champion and All-Pac-12 honoree there, make her Cal Poly debut. Sparks paired with freshman Logan Walter at the No. 5 spot as they won their match in straight sets, 21-16, 21-16 as both collected their first wins as Mustangs. At the No. 1 spot, Ella Connor and Izzy Martinez cruised to a 21-10, 21-10 win. Piper Ferch and freshman Erin Inskeep stayed together at the No. 2 spot again as they won their match 21-18, 21-14. The Mustangs' fourth point came from the No. 4 duo of juniors Abbey Reinard and Madison Nichols. Nichols had five aces in the match as they 21-15, 21-12. McNeese State recap: Cal Poly finished its first weekend of play by taking down the host school McNeese State, a program in its first year of existence, 5-0. Cal Poly used the same pairs at spots 1-4 as the first match. At the No. 5 spot was the duo of sophomore Emma Zuffelato and freshman Sydney Terrell. All five pairs took care of business, winning in straight sets. Connor and Martinez won at the No. 1 spot, 21-10, 21-13. Connor had eight aces and 11 kills while Martinez had 10 kills on 13 swings and seven digs. At the No. 2 spot, Ferch and Inskeep were dominant, winning 21-9, 21-7. Ferch finished with 14 kills, four aces and four digs in the match while Inskeep added 12 kills and 10 digs. Piper Naess and Quinn Perry took their match at the No. 3 spot, 21-10, 21-11. Nichols and Reinard were victorious at the No. 4 spot 21-11, 21-13. Zuffelato and Terrell came in and took care of their opponents at the No. 5 spot 21-12, 21-6. The pairs of Connor and Martinez as well as Ferch and Inskeep both finished the weekend 4-0. Terrell and Zuffelato as well as Nichols and Reinard were both 3-0. The Mustangs will now prepare for one of their toughest weekends of the season next week when they head to Los Angeles to face No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 USC, No. 8 Cal and No. 14 Grand Canyon at the Battle of LA.